25 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I love how one person wants to know what the "regulations" will be. So they farmers to get permission first before they grow anything? An example of the neo-socialist thought at work. Regulate everything!

The differences between organic permaculture and biocide intensive monocropping are huge indeed. Just go to the midwest and see what the soil and waterways are like after a long history of mass monoculture. Dead soils that need to be revived with synthetic fertilizers and poisons seeping into the watertables, rivers, streams and the Gulf of Mexico are the result. This is the legacy we leave our children. The beautiful photo in this blog shows one of the best ways to treat the soil and the earth. Mahalo nui for showing the alternative to farming methods which destroy healthy soil, water and air!

1:00- Yes, A lot more food with a lot less labor at the expense of the health of the soil, waterways and air. Clean healthy soil, water and air are so much more important to life on earth than using industrial pesticide/herbicide/artificial fertilizer monoculture methods because it produces more food with less labor. Joan, how about some blogs which show how people around the world are growing food in ways that nurture the soil, water and air? Or here in Hawaiʻi- how growing, harvesting, preparing and eating healthy food is becoming a part of many school curriculums and engaging more and more students in hands on community farming experiences. Or how more and more are beginning to revive traditional Hawaiian practices which used to sustain and feed ALL people who lived on all the islands, without destroying or depleting the soil, water and air. Education is the key to encouraging more and more of us to get personally involved in producing our own food in healthy sustainable ways. About 50% of all the food in Russia is produced by people growing food at home, and the growing season is extremely short there. Hawaiʻi, with a year-round season, should be able to do at least as well as Russia, donʻt you think? There are better ways to feed the world than the destructive methods of biocide monocropping methods. And let us not forget that around 1/3 of all food in the world is lost or wasted, the USA being the biggest waster of all. Lastly, remember the trillions of dollars the USA spends on war, death and destruction that could be used to support healthy sustainable agriculture and getting more people to begin growing food at home.

Falling leaves and shrubs not used in processing fall to the ground and replenish the soil with nutrients, nitrogen, and oxygen. This rich organic mulch promotes the development of fertile grassland. Some of the carbon which is "breathed" in by the plant in the form of CO2 is left in the roots and crop residues in the field. The CO2 is broken down by photosynthesis into carbon and oxygen, with oxygen being aspirated back into the atmosphere. With each season more CO2 is reduced from the air and added to the soil.

Hemp roots absorb and dissipate the energy of rain and runoff, which protects fertilizer, soil, and keeps seeds in place. Hemp plants slow down the velocity of runoff by absorbing moisture. By creating shade, hemp plants moderate extreme variations in temperatures, which conserves moisture in the soil. Hemp plants reduce the loss of topsoil in windy conditions. Hemp plants also loosen the earth for subsequent crops

Hemp plants can even pull nuclear toxins from the soil. In fact hemp was planted near and around the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site to pull radioactive elements from the ground. The process is called phyto-remediation, which means using plants (phyto) to clean up polluted sites. Phyto-remediation can be used to remove nuclear elements, and to clean up metals, pesticides, solvents, crude oil, and other toxins from landfills. Hemp breaks down pollutants and stabilizes metal contaminants by acting as a filter. Hemp is proving to be one of the best phyto-remediative plants found.

The minimum benefit of a hemp crop is in its use as a rotation crop. Since hemp stabilizes and enriches the soil farmers grow crops on, and provides them with weed-free fields, without cost of herbicides, it has value even if no part of the plant is being harvested and used. Any industry or monetary benefit beyond this value is a bonus. Rotating hemp with soy reduces cyst nematodes, a soy-decimating soil parasite, without any chemical input. Hemp could be grown as a rotation crop and not compete with any other food crops for the most productive farmland. Marginal lands make fine soil for hemp, or hemp can be grown in between growing seasons." taken from this article- http://www.hemphasis.net/Environment/environment.htm

1:38 -- If people want to grow food at home, that's fine. No one is stopping them. Indeed, no one is stopping them from growing food using "sustainable ag" on the thousands of fallow ag land in Hawaii. The problem is that so many people love to talk about it, and dream about it, but they aren't actually doing it.

Exactly how do they plan to turn Maui into a giant greenhouse, which is what Eden Project is? Things do grow better when you don't have to worry about weather, water, or those nasty weeds or bugs. Just asking.

Mauai....a "giant greenhouse". Sounds good! I am sure many plans which compliment each other can be used to turn Mauai into a breadbasket, producing enough food for all residents of the island. Or food which can be traded for food which is not grown here.

Joan, You say the problem is "so many people love to talk about it, and dream about it, but they aren't actually doing it." I agree with you. How about some blogs about local groups and individuals that are actually doing it? Blogs that encourage more people to grow food? There are many community projects happening here on Kauaʻi (many of these involve students and young people) and more individuals growing their own food. You would do our community a great service by sharing what these groups and individuals are doing.

Yes, 2:51, how about it? Since you feel so strongly about it, why don't you start a blog and write about those things? Or is it like the farming -- it sounds great, but you want someone else to do the actual work?

Or perhaps you could ask Hawaii Seed and Center for Food Safety, since they're actually getting paid to advance advance a different food system, yet all they ever do is bitch about GMOs.

And quite frankly, I doubt that there are any community groups on Kauai that are producing any significant amounts of food. Certainly not the Kilauea ag park or the "food forest" or Waipa.

Amazing how these same fantasizers think farmers can grow things without water....especially in the central isthmus of Maui, a veritable desert.

I know this because these people are pushing for the diverted irrigation water on Maui and throughout the state to be STOPPED because the "revocable permits" issued by the Board of Land and Natural Resources were supposed to be temporary, but have been in use, in some cases, for decades.

But why is that? It's not for lack of trying to get a proper lease. It's because farmers can't get the long-term leases that they want and need. So they have to make do with month to month or year to year renewals of these permits which provide zero stability and security for them or for food production.

The legislature needs to quickly pass a law that will allow the water to continue to be used until a rational resolution to this quagmire is found. If it doesn't, the recent circuit court ruling will leave farmers, ranchers, and many rural communities who also use the water, unable to farm, and very thirsty.

Yes, it is about water. Do you revitalize the streams along the NE coast which support taro and stream ecosystems?Or grow crops in central Maui to feed an increasing population of tourists and new comers?

Private land owners have been fighting for years to keep Ag alive.Maybe with the back door smoke filled rooms of the Lege and their intention to legalize Dope in Hawaii, Big Ag will thrive again.But then again, there is that moral decision that some of these old time owners will have-- "Do we really want to sell dope?"Regardless of what many of the newcomers and Fistees think, there is a moral scepter that guides many of the Big Ag folks. Heritage and God and all that.There is no moral scepter with any of the politicians, they will all run to where they can get the most money. Rats to rotten cheese.We might have one representative who will feel that the proliferation of dope on Kauai is not a good thing. He will be solo. Dope is good for the doper, but bad for society. Colorado residents tell a different story about their Dope Stores. The limp-wrist pinko press and greedy politicians will never admit....Dope is bad, in any form, no mater watcha call it. The dopers all say "but what about the cancer guys? Mary Jane is good for them?" Maybe. But the majority of legal dopers on Kauai got their scripts from confused physicians for bogus-bad-back complaints. Its all about getting high. Mana Mania, Waimea wiki-wiki, One-Hit Lihue, Hanalei Heaven, Wainiha Yee-ha, Kapaa Traffic Two Toke, Fistee Fiesta, Happy HAPA, Tourist Vapors and non-GMO, chem-free, gluten-free, ozone-free, free range, whole grown Blushing Blossomed Kilauea Killer Kilos. Three finger lids, 400 bucks.

We could follow the example of the Khmer Rouge and empty out the urban areas and send everyone to the farms to produce food by the labor intensive methods being suggested. The cadres already seem to be in place to supervise.